


Spectre

by TruebornAlpha



Series: Spy vs Spy [7]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Assassin Stiles Stilinski, Assassins & Hitmen, EVERYTHING GOES WRONG, Established Scott McCall/Stiles Stilinski, Infiltration, M/M, Spies & Secret Agents, Spy Scott McCall, Technology, action movie violence, keeping secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-23
Updated: 2016-03-23
Packaged: 2018-05-28 15:14:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6334018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TruebornAlpha/pseuds/TruebornAlpha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Scott is ready to give up his alter-ego as the Wolf and walk away from Haletech to be with Stiles. It's a risky move, especially when he knows that Peter Hale won't give up his prize student without a fight. If Scott could get his hands on the stolen flashdrive and bring Peter the head of the Hunters' leader, Chris Argent, then maybe he'd be able to buy his freedom. </p><p>If he survives.</p><p>Or, that Sciles Spy AU!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Spectre

Stiles loved to watch Scott sleep.

Sure, it didn’t hurt that his boyfriend was sprawled almost naked in an early morning sunbeam like it was gold spilled liquid across his skin. It was so tempting that Stiles had to stop himself from reaching out. After last night, Scott definitely needed a little rest and he wasn’t going to disturb him even if his groin had a different opinion. Things were going to change now, it felt like they’d made some major decision even if Stiles didn’t know exactly what Scott had risked. It wasn’t that they hadn’t been serious before, but it all felt different.

Finally giving in to the urge, he brushed a few dark hairs from Scott’s forehead with a smile before slowly sliding out of the bed and creeping out of the bedroom. Work wasn’t going to stop just because he wanted to spend the day at home taking care of Scott, but at least he could leave his boyfriend sleeping easily for as long as possible.

“You walk like an elephant.” Scott croaked from the bedroom and Stiles winced.

“Sorry, I was trying to be quiet.” Stiles backtracked, taking full advantage of the fact Scott was awake to push him back into the pillows and kiss him until his boyfriend shoved him off with a laugh.

“You going to work?”

“Yeah, I’ve got to. It might be a late night tonight, too. We have to upgrade the entire system, and my boss won’t let us start until everyone else goes home for the night. Are you… you’ll be here when I get home?”

Scott nodded, wiggling happily down into the sheets. “I’ll be here.”

The truth felt good. Stiles kissed him one last time before he left.

As soon as Stiles closed the door, Scott was on his feet. Last night was a revelation, but if he was ever going to make this work, he needed to put together a plan. Peter might never want to let go of him, but if he could bring his Alpha a big enough gift, maybe he could buy his way to freedom. Single-handedly destroying the Hunters might be just enough.

He made a promise, and now, Scott was more motivated than ever to keep it. He had no idea how this would end, but for the first time in his life, he was going to make his own target. Scott might never want Stiles to know the Wolf, but the Wolf’s determination was going to make sure he kept Stiles.

There was a bit of a problem though. He was having a Hell of a time hiding his smile. Theo spotted it the moment he walked into their base, and what should have been a quick supply run quickly soured. The Chimera straightened his posture, fixing Scott with a stare so pointed, Scott needed a bandage. He missed the annoyed look from the tech working next to him. Considering that Theo was crowded into her work station _again_ , Scott was more apt to take her side.

“Theo, let Malia do her job or she’ll set you on fire again.” 

Malia let out a snort that sounded far too pleased. She always worked best when she wasn’t being distracted. A technological savant, she was one of the best inventors at Haletech, and practically undefeated in the field of making things go boom. They’d always worked well together. She was exactly who Scott wanted to speak to.

“Only if I can bother you.” Theo threw back easily.

Malia gave Scott a grateful smile and went back to her work as Theo followed his partner down the hallway. The Wolf was more focused than he’d been in months, and Theo felt an excited thrill with the chance that his friend was back. He slung his arm around Scott’s shoulders, pulling him close so their sides brushed. “You look like you’ve been planning something, care to fill me in?”

“Maybe. Depends on if you’re going to go running to Peter again.” Scott said coldly, pulling away from the other man’s touch. Theo faltered for a moment, before letting Scott slip from his hands.

“I’m sorry about that. Scott, stop. Listen to me, okay?” He almost sounded like he was pleading and Scott didn’t bother to hide his annoyed sigh.

“Fine.”

Theo kept himself from reaching for the other boy, balling his hands by his side. “I didn’t mean to get you in trouble, but I’m worried. We’re all worried. You haven’t been the same for months and I didn’t know what to do. You won’t work with me. You won’t talk to me anymore. We’ve been friends our whole lives and all of a sudden you’re trying to throw everything away for some civilian who has no idea who you are! I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“He’s not going to hurt me.” Scott rolled his eyes, but Theo grabbed his arm and kept him from leaving.

“I’m sorry that I told Peter, but I’ve been covering for you this whole time and I don’t know what else to do. I miss you, Scott. I miss us. I just want to help and I don’t know how.”

“I don’t need your help, Theo. I didn’t need you to cover for me. I was doing fine! I was -”

“Scott.” Theo interrupted him with a stern whisper, and Scott would have brushed away nearly anyone else. “If that was true, nothing I could’ve told Peter would’ve changed anything. Something wasn’t right, and in this line of work, you need someone to watch your back… You were always it for me. If I can’t trust you, then I don’t have anyone here.”

Scott’s shoulders slumped before he could stop himself. For all that the Chimera had no trouble giving him a run for his money, they’d known each other for too long to accept each other’s lies. Scott knew all his tells. Scott knew all his secrets. Right now, all he saw on Theo’s face was earnest concern.

“I’m okay.” 

“Really?”

Scott met Theo’s gaze, watched the hard line of his shoulders. It was what he did when he was trying to appear taller, more intimidating. Theo knew it made him look confident, but Scott knew it was little more than bluster. Suddenly they were fourteen again, spewing bravado and pride on the eve of their first solo mission, and Scott wanted to hold his hand. Theo wouldn’t understand. Theo thrived on Haletech’s work. He’d chosen this world and made it his home. Someday he might even be the one calling the shots. He couldn’t understand Stiles, but that was okay. He didn’t have to. When Scott brought down the Hunters, it was going to be for Theo as well, for Scott’s oldest friend, to prove that there was nothing wrong with the Wolf he knew and believed in.

“I will be, after I finish this mission.” Scott squeezed his shoulder, and Theo leaned into him just a little more. “You’ve trusted me for this long. Give me one more day, and I’ll prove I deserve it.”

Theo searched the spy’s face, brows furrowing with consideration. “This sounds like a big case. You don’t need backup?”

“No, I need to do this on my own. I just have to get a few things and track down some info before I get in.” He smiled. It was a little bittersweet. Leaving Haletech meant leaving Theo and all the things they’d meant to each other. They’d been good, even with the competition. They’d had each other’s back for years and when things became  _more_ , they’d fed each other’s darkest obsessions. There was a time when it had been enough, and Scott still knew how good it would feel to let go and embrace the claws. He didn’t want to be that person anymore, but it wasn’t Theo’s fault that he’d changed.

His friend was reluctant to let go and for a brief moment, Scott wavered, wondering if he was making the right decision or if this was all a mistake. This was his life and as much as he loved pretending to be human with Stiles, he missed how simple things could be with Theo.

“Just be careful, Scott. Come back to me, okay?”

“Okay.” Scott promised, though the word felt hollow. He slipped away from Theo and down to the engineering lab to pick up his supplies.

Somewhere in the city was a small golden music box with the flash drive hidden inside. The Hunters thought they’d won, but Scott always planned ahead. The little tracker he’d slipped into the box before letting Killshot steal it from his pocket was active. One more mission to buy his freedom and it would all be over.

 

The Hunters’ lab didn’t look like much from the outside. It was a short building, only a few stories tall and set in a semi-abandoned industrial park next to some polymer factory. In a place like this, no one would pay any attention to the people coming and going at odd hours, they were hiding in plain sight. The Wolf smiled as he pulled his ski mask down over his face. They weren’t going to know what hit them.

He’d prepped as well as he could for this mission. His claws were essential, but he’d brought a few of Haletech’s top of the line supplies and some of Malia’s personal specialties to help bolster his armory. Satellite imagery of the building had limited information, but the Wolf was resourceful at even the worst of times. He had to move fast. The longer the Hunters had the flashdrive in their possession, the less useful it was to Haletech.

Scott kept his distance behind a heap of scrap metal as he took aim with a modified long-range rifle, one of Malia’s toys, though her original intent included more explosions. The Wolf had other plans for it. Through his viewscope, he aimed for one of the carefully disguised cameras along the laboratory’s roof. With a deep, steadying breath, he fired his shot. The bullet broke through the protective glass covering, and inside it was a miniature robot that attached itself to the edge of the camera. The Wolf controlled it from his position as the tiny robot skittered along the wires of the camera before plugging directly into the feed. There was a quiet burst of static as it injected Haletech’s viral programming into the system, multiplying quickly and taking over the entire broadcasting loop. In a matter of seconds, he had the Hunters’ CCTV under his control. The Hunters designed their system well, there were almost no blind spots to begin with. Scott was careful when he selected which videos to pause. There was no point in telling his enemies they had a visitor yet.

The Wolf could have made a direct play for the laboratory, but he always had a plan. Their lab was bound to be well protected, but Scott banked on the fact that the polymer facility would be less strictly guarded. It was easy enough to set a fire in the civilian factory and the wail of the firetrucks was enough to distract anyone monitoring security in the Hunters’ building.

He scaled to the roof of the Hunters’ lab and used a small cylinder of liquid nitrogen to weaken the bolts on the air ducts before scaling down the narrow metal tunnel. He hit the ground silently, crouching low as he pulled out a small hand held monitor and swept foe electronics. If the Hunters were anything like Haletech, their paranoia would mean the building would have the highest levels of security. With another short burst of static, he took their security system offline and tucked the device back into his belt. He took a quick detour to the room’s chemical shower, and stopped only long enough to inject a canister of viscous liquid into the piping. 

Then was off.

There wasn’t many people in the building, that was strange. Haletech was always full of researchers, analysts, and technicians who helped monitor the world’s information. The Hunters kept their people separate, contracting out their jobs to murder people across the globe. They were harder to find than Haletech, more mobile and less established. If any of their operatives were caught, they wouldn’t be able to spill any secrets to their enemies. But all good agencies needed gadgets and weapons, something didn’t sit quite right.

The soft sound of humming caught his attention and he pressed his back against the wall as a man in white lab coat walked by, oblivious. The Wolf jumped him from behind, holding him down in a strangle hold until the researcher went limp and he could stuff the Hunter into a utility closet. With his new stolen ID, the Wolf had his key through the empty lab.

The tracker in his pocket led him straight to the music box, perched on a small table in the middle of a room full of antiques. No doubt the Hunters’ collection of stolen prizes from their kills. He reached for the box and stopped, slowly pulling back. There was something wrong. This was a  _Hunters_  facility, one of the few they’d ever managed to identify. They were supposed to be the best of the best, but he’d infiltrated their lab without a hitch. Sure, he was good, but no one was that good. 

 _And where was everyone_?

All at once, the world upended and with a yelp of surprise, the Wolf was dragged off his feet by a thin cord that tightened around his ankle and suspended him from the ceiling.

A red light flashed before his eyes, and Scott looked away as the laser sight moved to focus on his heart. It was attached to an automatic rifle, held by a figure that stepped out of the shadows.

“It’s motion sensitive. I encourage you to try and escape.” The words were hard to make out at first, but the Wolf’s features remained impassive behind the mask. That was fine. His captor wasn’t done bragging. “Watching your brains hit the floor will be the highlight of my day.”

“By now, I thought you would’ve learned to send your best. I want to meet the Ghost, not an outdated has been.” Scott tipped his head to the side, tone nothing but benevolent. “But by all means, Argent. Entertain me.”

Chris Argent scowled, and the Wolf let himself smile. His memories of the man were foggy at best, but this wasn’t the first time they’d come face-to-face with one another, or rather, face-to-mask. It was always face-to-mask. Even when he was dealing in death and destruction, Peter Hale enjoyed playing the aristocrat businessman. He liked having the best toys, and there was no shame in showing them off, especially when he could one up the competition. On the end of his Alpha’s leash, ready to attack at the barest slight, Scott hadn’t even reached his teens when he’d first met Argent. Almost a decade ago, Argent would have had a chance of beating him. Now, Scott could see how he favored his right leg, no matter how carefully he moved when he walked. 

“Last time I saw you, you were some feral little child Hale twisted into a monster.” Chris said with a hiss, keeping his weapon trained on the Wolf. “You’ve grown up.”

“And you’ve grown old.” The Wolf growled back, but Argent shrugged off the insults. He wasn’t any hotheaded field agent, this was the head of the entire Hunters organization and he knew better than to rise to the bait.

“I’ve been following your career. You’ve left quite the bloody trail behind you, _Wolf_.” The name sounded filthy in his mouth. “Peter trained his little pet well, I guess not well enough if you thought you could come for me here. You really think that I’d let you walk right in here and take what’s mine?”

He was arrogant, that was good. Arrogance meant he overestimated himself, it seemed to be a trait common among the Hunters. Scott let the last of his humanity slip from him, swallowed by the empty yawning emptiness that the Wolf filled so perfectly. Argent saw him as Peter’s beast and that was exactly what the Wolf would give him. He reached one of his hands up with a hidden smile and tapped his earpiece.

Argent doubled over with a scream, his own earpiece broadcasting a painful squeal of feedback. He dug the device from his ear, throwing it across the room as the Wolf used the distraction to fit his claws over his gloves and cut himself down from the Hunter’s trap. Scott landed heavily, rolling back to his feet and lashing out in a blur of sharpened metal to knock Argent’s rifle from his numb hands.

The Hunter was disoriented, head still ringing and deafened from the noise, barely able to understand the Wolf’s words.

“Now it’s mine.”

The Wolf charged, trying to bury his claws into the Hunter’s chest, but cold metal rebounded on a Kevlar vest. It had been a clear shot. Argent wasn’t going to let him get another one.

Even disoriented, the assassin could fight back, kicking out Scott’s leg and struggling to put distance between them as he drew his gun. The Wolf wouldn’t go easy. He parried each hit, forcing Argent backwards with every blow. At one time, Argent had been the monster that sharpened every one of Peter Hale’s lessons, the creature that promised horrors beyond the world Scott already knew wanted to devour him. Scott’s only choice was to become a monster big enough to eat him first.

Argent fired a shot, right by the Wolf’s ear. It left his head spinning, and Scott snarled behind his mask, scrambling to regain his equilibrium. The hunter feinted with his gun, and as he fought to keep Argent’s aim off kilter, the hunter slipped a knife out of his holster and buried the blade in Scott’s flank. Argent had spent years at the top of his food chain, one of the most feared assassins across the globe. He was fast and strong, and incredibly resourceful. But he still wasn’t good enough to defeat the Wolf.

With a sickening snarl, Scott took a swing at Argent’s elbow, weakening his grip before yanking the blade out of his side and stabbing it into the sensitive skin between Argent’s shoulder and his throat. The Hunter went reeling, firing wildly with his gun. His injury made his movements sloppy and predictable. They gave Scott enough time to duck his aim, slashing his claws across the Hunter’s face, cutting cruelly through flesh before grabbing the gun for himself.

Just as the Wolf lined up to fire, eyes mad with power, the door at the end of the room burst open. The Wolf ducked for cover, but he wasn’t fast enough to avoid the masked Hunter's attack and Killshot's bullet sliced through his chest.

The Wolf hit the floor, dragging himself behind a table and swallowing a scream. He pressed his hand to his chest, blood bubbling between his fingers as pain lanced through him with every beat of his heart. Argent he could have taken down, but not outnumbered with Killshot gunning for him too. He needed to retreat, find a safe spot to treat his wounds and get the hell out of here before the whole thing fell apart. Bloody hands groped on the table over his head for the music box, yanking it down seconds before another shot almost took his hand off at the wrist and sent sharp splinters of wood in every direction.

“Put your hands up and come out slowly, and maybe I won’t shoot you through your skull.” The mocking voice called from the other side of the room and the Wolf gave a pained grin.

“Now where’s the fun in that?” He grunted back, fumbling in his belt. The blood made the small metal balls difficult to grasp, but he managed to pull them free and send them rolling across the floor. After a pause they activated, electricity arced across the room and the two Hunters screamed, caught in the blast. The Wolf took advantage of the distraction to haul himself back up to the ceiling and into the air vents, trying to get back up to the roof. With his cover blown, speed was more important than stealth. He grit his teeth, swearing to himself under his breath. Recovering their lost information was going to make Peter happy, but without Argent’s head as a prize, this whole mission was a failure.

Alarms burst into life and the Wolf winced as the noise reverberated through the metal of the air ducts, swearing again. An announcement blared through the Hunters’ speakers.

_This is a total lock down. All personnel will remain where they are until the enemy agent is eliminated._

Just fantastic, so much for his escape. Scott gave a quiet whimper, stretching out on his back in the tiny vent and panting for air. His clothes clung wetly to his body, wounds soaking through the fabric and his left arm felt weak and numb. Hide and regroup, that was his best bet until he could figure out another escape plan. His earpiece crackled, kicking to life as a broadcast found his frequency.

“You know we’re going to find you.”

The Wolf gave a hoarse laugh that sounded almost like a sob. “You’re stealing my tricks, Killshot. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”

“I think you mean  _flatteny_ , because I’m going to flatten you.” Killshot spat, and Scott laughed again, this time with a little less desperation as he dragged himself through the air ducts.

“Well, as heavy as your feet were, I’m still looking forward to our next dance. You should be thanking me. I killed Argent just like you wanted. It’s finally time for your promotion.”

Killshot snarled over the line, filled with self-righteous anger, and Scott was happy to have hit a nerve.

“Come on back and I’ll show you my gratitude.”

“And deprive you the pleasure of catching me? We both knew you were never going to catch up, but you didn’t have to admit it out loud.” Scott sounded almost concerned. As the vent widened for easier access, the spy froze. His fingers felt too slow and far too clumsy as he worked his way through his tool kit to withdraw finely ground powder, pointedly aware of how much time he was wasting as his vision started to blur. “ _Killjoy_? Are you still there? Tell me all the things you’re going to do to me when you have me. I need a good laugh.”

He blew a fine mist across his path, quietly cursing as lasers crisscrossed over the vent.

The worst part in all of this was that he promised Stiles he was coming home tonight.

“You’re really that desperate for a conversation?” Killshot snarled, making sure his boss was back on his feet before running through the halls to the security control office. If he could keep the Wolf distracted until he could get eyes on him, they’d be able to flush him out of hiding.

“Maybe I just like the sound of your voice.” Scott wriggled back through the vent, finding an opening above what looked like an empty robotics lab and kicked the grate out with a crash. He landed heavily, stumbling down to his knees with a groan.

“Sounds like you’re in bad shape, Wolfy.” Killshot sang into his ear. “If you tell me where you are, I’ll make it all better.”

Scott fumbled for a bandage from his supplies, slapping it over his side and the wound in his chest. It wasn’t going to hold forever, but he could keep it together long enough to get out of this. He didn’t want to think about how much easier this would have been if he had Theo by his side. “See? I knew you liked me.”

“You’re bleeding out and Argent’s alive and well. You should leave the assassinations to the professionals.”

He bit back a frustrated hiss. “Well sorry I’m not just a killer for hire.”

“Seems to be a bit of a problem for you lately. You slipping, Mutt?” Killshot was always known for his aim, seemed like his words always found their mark too. Scott backed himself into a corner of the lab, resting his head against the wall and focused on breathing. It couldn’t end like this.

 

Allison moved swiftly through the halls as the alarms blared back at the Hunter HQ and the staff took shelter. Chatter burst over the comms system, snarling taunts and vicious replies, but she ignored it all for now. This unplanned distraction was exactly what the Ghost had been waiting for.

The way the Hunters worked meant that no one knew of plans they weren’t directly involved in, but Allison had been on edge ever since she watched her father leave their headquarters to places unknown. To find out that he’d been injured while battling the Wolf was nerve-wracking. Their battle echoed through the Hunters’ base, but he’d survived, and she was never going to have a better chance to get to the bottom of all of this.

Her father had been keeping something from her and she was going to find out the truth. If even Haletech was trying to get their hands on the flashdrive, then it must be dangerous.

This was a plan that had been in the making since the moment she and Stiles had come across the peculiarities at the Hope Gala. Allison may not have known when she’d be able to strike, but she was always prepared. While the rest of the base fretted over their missing Wolf, there was no one to pay attention to Allison making her way towards Argent’s office. Still, she’d made sure that the internal surveillance feeds were on a delay before slipping past her father’s door.

Allison made a beeline for her Dad’s computer, attaching her laptop to the drive as she turned it open. The program was running immediately. All she needed was 30 seconds to scan through his files, sorting through them based using parameters taken from the Hunters’ security systems and encoded databases. It was only once she was in the privacy of her own office, behind a door that locked and on the most secure device in the building that she dared view her results.

The information itself was still secured on the flashdrive, but her father knew exactly what was hidden on the device and had been planning for months on how to use it. Allison closed her laptop with a snap, feeling sick.

“Ms. Argent!” One of the techs called out, knocking on her door and letting themselves in almost before Allison permitted it. “They’ve cornered the Wolf in Area 5. It’ll be over soon. Killshot is taking the lead.”

“I’ll be out in a second.” Allison managed a smile, but it felt empty. Haletech couldn’t be allowed to get their hands on the flashdrive, but the Hunters shouldn’t have it either. Not with what her father wanted to use it for.

 _We hunt those who hunt us_. That motto had been drilled into her head since she was a small child, raised as her father’s heir to one day inherit everything he’d built. She’d believed it with all of her heart, they were the weapon that took down those that justice couldn’t reach. They served a purpose, they protected people.

But now, all Allison could feel was horror.

 

Scott’s eyes felt sticky and didn’t want to open. The world swayed gently under him and it would be easy to just drift off if not for the blaring alarm that never stopped. Stiles was waiting for him and he’d promised to be there when his best friend came home, he wasn’t going to let him down. He had to override the lockdown somehow, or he’d never be able to get out. The system had sealed every possible exit and there was no way he’d be able to get to the central security room to hack into the system from here. There was always Plan B, but that was a little extreme and there was no guarantee he’d get out alive.

With a grunt of pain, he pushed himself to his feet and searched the room. Half-finished robotics lay scattered on the tables, abandoned computer equipment was hooked up to large machines, and several cans of industrial lubricant sat in the corner. What were the Hunters working on, some kind of drones? It would be just like them to find new ways to murder people with the push of a button.

“Are you afraid I’d leave you all alone, Killshot?” He breathed as he quickly pried one of the computers apart with his claws, rewiring the components. “I think I’d miss you too much.”

“Stop hiding and let me show you how much I care.”

“As tempting as that is, I’m gonna have to pass.” The Wolf smiled as the wire began to spark, quickly catching fire. He added the oil to the flame as the blaze grew and ducked out of the room down the empty hallway. It only took a minute or two before the fire was large enough for the smoke detector and the alarm took on a different cadence as the fire alert system took over. It forced an override, the evacuation protocol taking precedence over the lockdown.

Killshot ground his teeth as the remaining Hunter staff started fleeing towards the exits. If he couldn’t stop the Wolf now, there was a real possibility he’d slip out with the crowd and disappear.

The fire spread faster than the Wolf expected, swallowing up the Hunters’ graveyard of half-finished projects and leaving the spy hissing under his breath as he rushed towards the exit. He had no time to care who heard. His limbs felt like they were lined with lead, and he wished it was just sweat that dripped down his chest. Worse, he was starting to feel cold.

A large pair of double doors at the opposite end of the lab held his salvation, but just as he thought he was in the clear, they burst open. Still in her lab coat, the dark-haired woman couldn’t be anything but a technician, but she still fell into a defensive stance the moment she saw the masked intruder, pulling out a blade as if out of thin air. The Wolf growled behind his mask, baring his teeth, but it was lost under the crackle of weakened timber. For a moment, they both froze, daring to find the source of the noise. They were too late to stop the doorway from falling in, wood and metal splintering as it rained down on them.

Scott yelled as he dove out of the mess, aching arms raised over his head for protection, but a heavy piece of wood still caught him in the back, sending him reeling. He scrambled out of the mess, tearing off his damaged gear only to find that he’d lost the music box somewhere in the blast… and the technician hadn’t resurfaced.

Conflicting tension twisted across his features, but he already knew what he was going to do. Perhaps that was the worst part of all of this, because Killshot was right. The Wolf never made a try for the music box. In the back of his mind, he supposed there was a chance that he could go back for it, but he was more concerned about kicking away a thick slab of fallen tile and making his way to the Hunter. She tried to push herself to her feet only to cry out in pain. She was pinned under a heavy beam, and it was only getting hotter.

“Hold on,” the Wolf said, rushing to her side. “I think I can pry it loose.”

He dug his claws into the wood, body straining as he threw his weight against the beam. Every muscle ached and he didn’t have the strength left to move it, but he wasn’t going to leave her behind.

“Wolf!” Scott winced as he heard the shout behind him, his enemy finding him at last. He barely spared Killshot a look as he fought to lift the beam.

“Kill me later, just help me!”

The request shocked the Hunter, but it wasn’t the first time that circumstances had forced him to work together with his enemy. He recognized the trapped lab tech and reached for Kira as the Wolf managed to finally shift the beam from her body. Killshot pulled her free and up to her feet, checking to make sure she could still walk. Kira hesitated, turning back to her wounded rescuer.

“He saved me…” She protested, but Killshot didn’t give her a chance to finish as he shoved her towards the door with a sharp order to run. With one last look at the Wolf, she fled. Killshot didn’t know what to think. This was the second time that the Wolf had refused to kill an enemy, and he’d risked himself to stay and actually save one of their techs? It didn’t fit with what he knew about the spy, the Wolf’s brutality was legendary and he’d been trained by Peter Hale himself. He’d left a trail of dead Hunters going back a decade, he didn’t  _save_  people.

Killshot struck first, slamming his fist into the Wolf’s face and sent the spy sprawling back in the burning room. “Where’s the flashdrive? Give it to me and I’ll make it quick.”

The Wolf gave a broken laugh as he slowly rolled to his feet. “Gone. It’s all gone. I guess neither one of us can use it now.”

“You’re lying!” He grabbed the Wolf by the front of his blood soaked shirt and slammed him against the wall. “You wouldn’t destroy it if you did all of this to get it back.”

“It was an accident. These things happen.” The Wolf wheezed, reaching for his watch and touching a small knob on the clock face. A low rumble sounded beneath their feet, the whole building rocking with the blast. The vibrations raced through the floor like an earthquake, shivering up the walls with a growing roar.

“What was that, what did you do?!”

“Plan B.”

The building crumbled around them as the modified explosives Scott injected into the water pipeline went off. Killshot looked away for just one second, but it was all the Wolf needed to fight back, landing a square shot to his jaw and disorienting the assassin. The Wolf gave his rival another cheeky salute and disappeared into the rubble. Killshot’s angered yell followed after him, but he wasn’t desperate enough to follow. The building would do his job for him.

Killshot had no way of seeing the winding trail the Wolf followed, deeper into the building, along the damaged pipelines. Scott was going to have to thank Malia for her explosives once he was out.

 

When Stiles returned to the Hunters’ base, he was greeted by applause. Their boss might still have been in the medical bay, but he was expected to make a full recovery. Kira hadn’t sustained anything that a little bed rest wouldn’t fix. It was a bitter sort of victory. They were picking their way through the wreckage of the laboratory but still hadn’t dug up the Wolf’s corpse. Everyone thought it was only a matter of time. Allison gave him a pat on the back, told him to take it easy and promised that they’d start early in the morning the next day.  

That was code for secret meetings and too many headaches, but Stiles smiled through it. It took him too long to get out of his work gear, to scrub off the scent of ash and smoke and slip into his civilian clothes. The debriefing process took twice as long as that. Despite it all, despite the uncertainty, the inconvenience, and the fact that his hands still trembled because he was fucking electrocuted, Stiles was in good spirits as he headed home. Scott promised to be there, and maybe they could watch Netflix and chill until one of them got handsy.

It wasn’t until he got to his front door that his mood faltered. There was blood on the doorknob. Suddenly Stiles couldn’t breathe.

He unlocked their front door slowly, heart hammering in his chest and a gun in his hand. It didn’t matter who saw him now. If something had already happened, if he was already too late -  _NO!_

He couldn’t think that way. He pushed open the door slowly, clearing their living room first, then the coat closet. There was blood on the floor. The drops lead deeper into the apartment, but he needed to clear his bases first. Stiles couldn’t hear a thing, but he was careful before he peaked into the kitchen. The house was clear, until he turned the corner.

In the hallway that separated their bedroom from the rest of the house, Scott McCall laid dying in a pool of his own blood.

 

**Author's Note:**

> You can find Dans's awesome fics [here](http://nevertrustastilesthing.tumblr.com/)
> 
> You can read Rune's stuff [Here](http://fightingforthepack.tumblr.com/) and find her on tumblr at [ Runicscribbles](http://runicscribbles.tumblr.com)


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